Savannah professor discusses Islam and Syria

Mohamed H. Mukhtar, a Savannah State history professor, talks Wednesday with a guest following his "Many Faces of Islam" lecture at Armstrong Atlantic State University. Marcus E. Howard/Savannah Morning News

Mohamed H. Mukhtar, a Savannah State history professor, talks Wednesday with a guest following his "Many Faces of Islam" lecture at Armstrong Atlantic State University. Marcus E. Howard/Savannah Morning News

A Savannah history professor and Arabic scholar offers a warning about the possible dangers of entering into a conflict with Syria.

As officials in Washington consider taking military action against the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad over chemical weapons use, Mohamed H. Mukhtar of Savannah State University cautions about following the same drumbeat that led the U.S. into protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“They’re a small section of Shia called Alawites. They don’t represent 8 percent of the Shias, but they’ve been ruling for the last 40 years,” Mukhtar said of the Assad regime.

“The other Syrians who are predominantly Sunni are fighting against this regime. They want regime change. We, the Americans, have to be very careful because if you put the Sunnis on top of the Shias, they’re going to be massacring them too. This is what happened in Iraq. We supported the Shia group versus the Sunni group. It didn’t work.”

Earlier this week U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Savannah, said he was leaning toward not striking Syria until he learned more details about President Barack Obama’s strategy. Both of Georgia’s Republican senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, have issued statements in support of the use of military action.

Savannah Bishop Gregory J. Hartmayer has joined Pope Francis in asking Catholics to fast and pray for peace in Syria on Saturday, according to a message from his office.

On Wednesday, Mukhtar delivered a lecture titled “Many Faces of Islam” to a group of 40-50 people at Armstrong Atlantic State University, kicking off the university’s “Let’s Talk About It: Muslim Journeys” discussion and lecture series that continues today.

At 6 p.m., the animated film “Persepolis” will be presented by Yassaman Saadatmand, head of Armstrong’s economics department, at Solms Hall, room 108 on campus. It’s an adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up during the Iranian Revolution.

The intent of the series is to widen understanding of the Muslim world through literature, art, film and history, according to Armstrong.

All the events are free and open to the public.

Though the Syrian crisis has received wide media attention over the past two years, a January survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found nearly one in five (19 percent) Americans misidentified Syria as Turkey on a map of the Middle East.

Only half of the respondents correctly identified the shaded country as Syria while another 15 percent didn’t attempt to answer the questions.

Six hundred residents, or 0.23 percent, of Chatham County’s population identify as Muslim, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives.

Worldwide, there are roughly 1.6 billion followers of Islam known as Muslims, who believe there is only one God, called “Allah” in Arabic. They believe God sent a number of prophets — including the final prophet Muhammad — to teach them how to live according to laws found in their holy book, the Quran.

Mukhtar noted that even Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of the Quran at his Monticello estate in Virginia.

Muslims are a diverse group of people in their forms of governance, ethnicity, language, wealth and attitude toward women, said Mukhtar, a practicing Muslim who emigrated from Somalia.

“One of the problems I think we are having is when we look at Islam as something monolithic,” he said. “It’s a very diverse religion.”

But Islam has yet to shake the perception in America that it is a violent religion, despite being an Arabic word that literally means “submission” to God, Mukhtar acknowledged.

Of the handful of questions posed to Mukhtar in a question and answer session following his lecture, about half dealt with extremism. One questioner — who admitted having difficulty separating “good Muslims from the bad Muslims” — asked about the dangers posed by sharia, or Islamic religious law, in the U.S.

The extremists who claim to represent Islam and receive much of the media attention are minute and represent no particular country, Mukhtar said. In fact, he said, they are more of a threat to the Muslim world as they typically target mosques and kill innocent people.

He gave the assassinations of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and former Primer Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan as two such examples.

“Yes, it’s very painful what we see what has happened in the Boston Marathon and very painful what we have seen in New York,” Mukhtar said. “Similarly, it’s happening tragically in the Islamic world, daily.”

The Armstrong discussion and lecture series is made possible by two grants this year from the National Endowment for the Humanities in cooperation with the American Library Association.

The first grant provided the university’s Lane Library with 25 books and three films on Muslim culture in the U.S. and around the world. The second grant funded the discussion and lecture series.

While there is not a large presence of Muslim students on campus, a need for more study on the religion and culture of Islam was recognized, said Ann Fuller, assistant university librarian.

“You just read so much in the news that’s negative, and you realize that you’re only seeing one side of the discussion,” she said.

IF YOU GO

The Armstrong Atlantic State University “Let’s Talk About It: Muslim Journeys” discussion and lecture series schedule:

At 5:30 p.m. Thursday, the 90-minute documentary, “Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World,” will be shown at the Southwest Chatham Library at 14097 Abercorn St. in Savannah. A discussion led by Deborah Jamieson, assistant art history professor at Armstrong, will follow.